Jn. 15: 9-17
We are stunned by the second wave of the pandemic. Humanity is suffering all over the world. We see thousands are losing their lives daily, and many struggles with health issues and suffers. We encounter the darkest phase of human existence in this pandemic time. At the same time, we discover the nobility of human existence, which all the COVID warriors tangibly express. When we all try to protect ourselves from the coronavirus, these medical staff and public servants had to expose themselves to this deadly virus. They know that their life is at risk even then they make this great sacrifice for the sake of the other. Some of them laid down their lives while working for their corona affected brethren.
I came across a heroic story of an Indo- American doctor, Mrs Madhavi Aya. She was a dedicated medical staff and committed her life to save the lives of others. When the pandemic broke out, she worked in one of the hospitals in New York, which was the pandemic’s epicentre in the US. Once the situation was out of control, she could not get back home. After a while, she was infected, and she could send only messages to her husband and daughter. Her messages revealed her genuine love for the suffering humanity and commitment to her profession of saving lives. She helped so many people win their battle against the coronavirus, but she lost the deadly virus… “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”(Jn. 15:13)
The greatest commandment that Jesus gave is his invitation to live in love. “Love one another as I have loved you.” It is easy to preach to love one another, but the commandment of Jesus contains exhortation and praxis to love our neighbour tangibly by reaching out to him/her. How did Jesus express his love for us? He chose each of us to be his followers; being a Christian is not a coincidence but a God-incident. We did not choose our country, society, family or religious tradition to which we belong; instead, all these graces were given to us as gifts. Therefore, we are specially chosen by God. He called us friends. Friendship is the readiness to treat someone equal to you and close to your heart. We could never imagine equating ourselves with the sanctity of God. Whereas the Son of God, incarnated into our midst, accepted our fragile human flesh and sinful nature. He gave himself entirely for us to the extent of washing the feet of his disciples and humbled himself to the extent of a salve. It is an incredible privilege for humans that God calls us as friends.
The third factor is that he loved us unconditionally to the extent of laying down his life on the cross for our redemption. Giving up one’s life knowingly for the sake of the other is the supreme expression of love. We can’t think of any other expression greater than this. Jesus, the Son of God, accepted death. The curse of death was the punishment for humanity for our failures. It was not easy for Jesus to accept death because he was not a mortal man. He is the eternal logos; everything is created in Him and through him. He received death because of his unconditional love and immense love for each one of us so that we may have life in abundance.
The fourth factor is we are called to bear fruit. Once we are aware that we are chosen to live in friendship with God and the self-giving love of Jesus for each one of us, it demands a response from us to be faithful. We don’t bear fruit by ourselves but by being rooted in the person of Christ. It is very well expressed in imitating the self-giving love of Christ in our day to day life by being the stream of grace to our needy brethren. As we encounter the perils of the Corona pandemic, let us be aware of this unconditional love of Jesus and let us bear fruit by practising it in our day to day life.